


Reunion

by divisionten



Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: Cosplay, Gen, Illustrated, One Shot, Post A Crack in Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 16:53:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4356974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/divisionten/pseuds/divisionten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ratchet gets Clank back.</p><p>This is a cosplay collaboration with a story attached.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [twelvepercentofaplan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/twelvepercentofaplan/gifts), [blazichu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blazichu/gifts).



_“Clank… CLANK!”_ a young sounding voice shot out, through the clearing where I was trying to grab water to bring back to the village. A lightly armored yellow-furred creature ran past not soon after.

Lombax?

“Ratchet, _tic_ , right?” I asked, putting aside my pot… which, in his haste, he shattered to pieces with his tail as he whipped around.

He frowned for a moment. “Sorry,” he mumbled weakly, looking at the damage.

“It’s _tic_ just fine, _tic_ ,” I said, shooing him off.“I’ll just _tic_ take it to the Zoni to fix.”

“Have you seen Clank?” he demanded, once he’d been assured there’d been no real damage done.

“Who?”

“Robot, about 70 centicubits tall, Blarg-made…” he started before trailing off. “I followed his tracer here…”

“I _tic_ saw something metallic that way,” I said, outstretching my hand to an old log.

Ratchet huffed and ran towards where I’d pointed, skidding to a halt.

“Clank, buddy, no…” he mumbled, picking up what was clearly a robot, before growling low. “I’ll fix you. And then I’m going to find the guys who did this to you.”

Ratchet pulled out a toolkit from a matter decompressor on his glove, biting down on one screwdriver he muttered he needed while pulling out more tools.

“C’mon,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “Let’s wake you..”

“Ra… chet?” a weak tinny voice asked.

Ratchet frowned. “Your optics aren’t even lit. Just sit tight, pal. I’ve got you.” His face softened, and he let out a breath he probably didn’t realize he was holding.

“You any good with repairs?” he asked, turning to me.

“Bah. The only mechanical stuff any _tic_ Fongoids touch touch is helping the Grummels unload their _tic_ stock at the trading port,” I replied.

“Can you hold things for me at least?”

“Just _tic_ tell me what to do.”

* * *

A few minutes of near silence later as Ratchet dug around Clank’s insides, punctuated only by “Hold”, “Let go”, and “Take this”, Ratchet levered his screwdriver to wedge the small robot’s access panel back into place. “Best I can do for now, pal. Your arms and legs are stuck until I can get you back to the ship.”

“I wish I knew what happened,” Clank replied, before being drawn tightly into a hug.

“Some Angorians yanked you off my back while we were in the arena,” Ratchet muttered. “I chased your signal down here.”

“You do realize that this is likely some sort of trap, then?” Clank said incredulously as Ratchet pulled him tighter.

“Oh, yeah, pal, way ahead of you. I’m uh, kinda using you as a shield for the poor Fongoid behind us right now,” Ratchet hissed. “I’ll get you fixed up at Al’s if they start shooting.”

“How very kind,” Clank replied dryly. I scuttled in behind the pair, now fearing for my life, as the robot popped open his maintenance shutter, letting Ratchet slip a hand inside while still holding on tightly.

“Ready?” Ratchet muttered, his face obscured by digging into Clank’s head.

“Whenever you are, Ratchet.”

“Count of three, hit the deck,” Ratchet whispered back at me. “Got it?”

“Yes, _tic_.”

“One, two, three, NOW!” he cried, as he swung the robot over his shoulder onto his back as he revealed what he’d pulled from Clank, a blaster pistol, carefully letting off ten shots to spots in the forest.

He held the blaster steady as he perked an ear, shooting off one more shot towards the old stone bridge.

“Thanks for the cover,” he said, turning back to Clank, before looking at me. “Stay down. I hear ship engines, and that means reinforcements. Where would they be coming from?”

“There’s _tic_ only one decent place to land ships around here, up the hill. They would be coming down from there, and _tic_ crossing the stream first, before hitting the village.”

“Thanks.” Ratchet squatted and stretched himself out, loading another cartridge into the pistol.

“Thanks for the help,” I said, flat on my stomach behind some brush and a log. “It would be _tic_ terrible if we got hit by another attack.”

“Nefarious’s goons, right?” Ratchet said. “Clank, you weren’t there for that. He kidnapped an entire village. Or Vorselon did, really, but they were being sent to one of his work camps. _Ugh_.” Ratchet spat out the end of his sentence. “I’m getting _real_ _sick_ of cleaning up after these self-righteous jerks.”

“You really _did_ grow up quite a bit while I was incapacitated,” Clank said smugly, as Ratchet perked an ear again, listening for sounds only a Lombax would be able to hear.

“Just… shut up,” Ratchet replied, playfully, as he hunched down tighter and let of a rapid stream of twenty or thirty blasts, snorting and listening to the groans of Angorians and robot alike. “You’d think my arena opponent would realize that stealing you away would make me a _better_ fighter, not a worse one.”

“This is over a petty arena squabble?” Clank asked, as Ratchet put the pistol into his matter compressor.

“Petty? _Hah_. You remember the DreadZone fights?” Ratchet asked in turn, standing up and barking out a laugh.

“And the Angorians are far worse,” Clank responded. “Ratchet, I need a few minutes to recharge my battery, if that is all right with you, before we travel.”

“Yeah, no prob,” Ratchet said, as he unhooked the robot off his back, setting him on a log, swinging over to sit down himself.

“You good?” Ratchet asked.

“Unbalanced, without the use of my legs to counterweight,” Clank replied honestly. “But you are assisting with that.”

“You should be safe to go, uh…” Ratchet said, looking down at me from my spot behind the log, as I stood and brushed dirt from my tunic.

“Neff,” I supplied.

“There’s nobody else around to bug you within at least five kliks, Neff. All the hired idiots have shuffled back towards one of those Grummel traders to heal, trust my hearing on that one. Right now, you’ve got a clean shot of going home, and honestly, even after those guys restock on nanotech, I doubt they’ll come back. I hit ‘em all in the _worst_ possible spot,” he added with a wicked fang-bearing grin.

Ratchet looked over at Clank.“Battery?”

“Half a standard hour,” Clank replied, drowsily. “It would be more prudent to idle longer, however…”

“Just go into sleep mode proper. I’ve got your back.”

Clank nodded, powering down.

“I’ll stay,” I replied, as I began picking up the pieces of the shattered pottery, rolling them up in my burlap shoulder bag. “At least until its safe for you _tic_ to get moving yourself.”

“Thanks,” Ratchet said, voice heavy as he settled into the log, tail thumping against Clank’s feet. He leaned the (temporary) alloy paperweight into his side, yanking off his helmet and sighing. “I thought I’d lost him again.”

“Vorselon split up the people he abducted,” I commented, settling next to Ratchet on the ground at his feet. “You saved the _tic_ people still on his ship, but…”

“There were more?”

“We’re still missing about _tic_ forty,” I responded, glumly.

“We’ll get them back,” Ratchet said sharply. “Let me get back to my own ship, fix up Clank, but… we _will_ get them back. I am so sorry. I wish I’d known sooner.”

“That’s not…”

“It _is_. No man left behind.”

“Or robot?”

“No _person_ left behind,” Ratchet reiterated, patting Clank’s head with his right hand, smiling softly. “We’ve already had to lose someone important to each of us. That’s _not_ your job.”

* * *

“Much better,” Clank mumbled, as he slowly booted up from his partial charge.

“Didn’t want you in direct sunlight, you’d get too hot to carry.”

“I am now at twenty percent; it is more than sufficient for the time being.”

“Good. Let’s move,” Ratchet said, swinging Clank back onto his armor. “Climbing that hill’s the fastest way back to where I parked. Ready?”

“I will _tic_ at least see you off,” I replied.

Clank squinted at me from Ratchet’s back. ”You really should be returning back to your village. This is quite steep.”

I watched Ratchet deftly pull himself up the incline, Clank looking down at me the entire way.

“Stay safe,” Clank shouted down, once they reached the hill’s peak.

“Yes _tic_ sir!”

Ratchet turned around and looked down.

“Yo, Neff!” he shouted, with confidence. “We’ll be back soon. _With everyone_.” He shook his head. “I’m going to need a bigger ship.”

“And _that_ is how you offend Aphelion,” Clank commented.

“When she can fit more than a minifridge in her cargo bay, then we’ll talk,” Ratchet joked, pulling out a strange device he snapped on his wrist. “Later!” he cried, shooting a beam of green light from the device before flying off into the sky, whooping as he was pulled along by the tether.

* * *

**_So. I made a thing. Ratchet and Clank cosplay took about six months total (and I’m still building props, like a Mr. Zurkon, Tankbot, and a Groovitron Glove) but this was my first actual cosplay shoot with purpose. Apologies for the really bad fanfic to go alongside... but it was easier to do this shoot (which was grueling... it was like 90• Fahrenheit in that suit, plus I was actually hiking a gosh-darn mountain with 60 lbs of gear) with a script of sorts in mind._ **

[Build Log](http://tay.kinja.com/cosplazy-ratchet-and-clank-90-complete-1708078079)

**_Huge kudos to my photographer,[KitsuneSqueak](https://www.facebook.com/KitsuCos?fref=ts), and the lighting assistant [Ginger Liz](https://www.facebook.com/gingerycosplay?fref=ts)._ **

**_I need about twenty showers._ **

Ratchet and Clank

divisionten: cosplay builder and model, photo retouching

[KitsuneSqueak](https://www.facebook.com/KitsuCos?fref=ts): photography

[Ginger Liz](https://www.facebook.com/gingerycosplay?fref=ts): lighting


End file.
